We risk our lives for £12 an hour

NHS deadly disease deep cleaners driven to strike

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STAFF from the Rapid Response Team at Guys and St Thomas's Hospital are taking a break from a busy morning's infection control.

This is the team tasked with one of the most dangerous jobs in the hospital - the deep cleans that prevent deadly diseases spreading.

“We are proud to be on the front line of the NHS,” one of the team tells me.

“Every day we might be facing ebola, monkeypox, tuberculosis, MRSA, C. difficile, norovirus, and of course Covid. We use toxic chemicals and complex equipment like vaporised hydrogen peroxide and ultra-violet machines to decontaminate areas of the hospital from infectious diseases.

“So, we are risking our lives exposing ourselves to diseases, but also to toxic chemicals and radiation.

“There is a high risk of contracting diseases, for us and our families.”

For this skilled, dangerous, highly responsible work, these Covid heroes are paid just £12.08 an hour ~ making them among the lowest paid workers in the National Health Service.

UNSAFE

These first responders to any outbreak say that five years after the Covid outbreak began, lessons around staff and patient safety have not be learned. Which is why on Monday, they will take strike action.

Their union, Unite, calls the conditions they are working in ‘inhumane’.

“The lack of facilities for keeping ourselves clean and inadequate space for breaks is making patients, their families and those we share public transport with unsafe,” one worker says.

Another infection control worker adds: “We are on the lowest NHS wage despite everything we do. But it's not just that. We don't have a proper place to take breaks - our only rest area is by some bins - so many of us end up taking our breaks in the lift lobby or public corridors. That isn't safe.